Brisket

**Warning** This dish takes 9 hours to prepare. If it is 5:00pm and you need to have dinner ready at 7:00pm, dream on. It ain't happenin.

So, after nine hours of cooking in my break room at work, I packed up the mighty little crock pot with the brisket nestled safely inside and drove us all to my parents. Eric included.

It took everything in my being to not pull that car over to the shoulder of the 22 Freeway and gobble up all 4.5lbs of brisket right then and there.

That’s a dirty lie. I tried to, but Eric stopped me.

Just kidding.

Kind of.

Regardless of how, we made it home all in one piece. Even the brisket. I plugged my new best friend, the crock pot, back in and let that meat and sauce get nice and hot.

Seriously though people, why did I not know about the crock pot? Did you know about it? Why wasn’t anyone telling me!? If you knew about the crock pot and didn’t tell me, you are mean. I will now make any recipe that has directions that include “put in the crock pot.”

All right. I’m done. Tangent over. Back to the brisket.

When the sauce was a little bubbly and the meat was piping hot, I took it out and put it on the cutting board and let it rest for about 15 minutes.

You want to let meat rest after cooking so that it doesn’t lose its juices.

Not that this could have lost the juices it had been simmering in for the last nine hours. But, I wasn’t going to risk the nine hours of hard work and dedication I put in. You know, sitting at my desk while the crock pot did all the work was very strenuous.

While the meat was resting, I whisked about ½ cup of flour into the remaining sauce to thicken it slightly to make gravy. Be prepared to have an extremely sore arm after doing all the whisking. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

And when the meat had rested, and the gravy had been whisked, and the blessing had been said, and the candles had been lit, I let my dad slice up the meat. And by let him, I really mean begged him because I was running around the kitchen like a chicken with no head. The usual.

Despite my worries, the meat was amazingly tender and delicious. But don’t take my word for it. Try it for yourself.

DirectionsPlace onions in bottom of slow cooker, then place brisket, fat side up, on top of onions. Sprinkle garlic on top. Combine ketchup, vinegar, and brown sugar in small bowl and then rub into beef. Add chicken stock to coat the bottom of the cooker. Cover crockpot and cook on Low 8-10 hours.

For gravy, remove brisket from the slow cooker place on serving plate, and cover tightly with foil. Turn crockpot temperature to High. Mix flour with remaining juices/stock in the pot and bring to a boil, stirring frequently with wire whisk. If there is not enough liquid left, add 1/2 cup water. When the flour is well mixed, spoon over meat and serve.